


1.5 Closer

by NervousAliceCurious



Category: Original Work
Genre: Bells, Gen, Holiday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26214433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NervousAliceCurious/pseuds/NervousAliceCurious
Summary: Ink learns a little more about the human world, including a local legend.





	1.5 Closer

**Author's Note:**

> Cw: Brief vomit mention/body horror. Brief food/eating mention. Worry, brief illness mention.

“Hm”.

Today, it is loud.

“Kiara?”

“Yeah?”

The...school, is closed.

“Why is everything so colorful?”

“Huh?”

-She looks at all of the Streamers and Balloons.

“Oh”.

“Oh?”

“It’s a Holiday”.

“Holy Day?”

“Er...sometimes”.

She dodges those who are walking.

“...What is the Holiday?”

I sometimes see humans with bags of wrapped.............

...........Food?

It must be something they like to eat.

-I do not like to eat, because.....the smell.

Is **bad.**

They also like to ride giant floats of fake, giant animals.

. . . .

I do not understand, but it is nice that they have fun.

“It’s called Day of the Bells, and they say if you make a wish by midnight, it’ll come true the next morning”.

“Have you ever done it?”

She smiles(?)

“....Nah, there’s nothing I really want. . .”

-Is that the Whole Story?

“Why is it a bell?”

“Um...”

She is thinking.

I think.

“...I don’t know. I guess so the Universe can tell who needs them?”

“Hmm...”

That is reasonable...

I poke one.

It blows apart with a very loud noise.

I feel myself move involuntarily-

“-Oops”.

“Hm?”

“You popped it”.

“...”

Her voice. . .rings.

It is all anyone can talk about.

So many things...

I do not like to eavesdrop, but sometimes I wonder-

If you could have _anything-_

Do these wishes actually come true?

.....

What if someone wishes for something bad?

I float, then meet her in a stairwell.

“You okay?”

“Hm?”

Hazel.

“You’re kinda-“

“Yes?”

I must duck, so I do not impale my face.

“Agitated?”

“...What is that?”

“Um...”

She flings her hand around,

-It is not the injured one.

Do not worry.

“It’s...like....”

“Hm?”

“Like-you are visibly disturbed by something...or-you need to tell someone something right away...”

“....I am?”

I do-

“Yeah-you kept shifting around”.

“....Hm”.

I did not notice.

“So...what’s wrong?”

“....Is it true?”

“What is?”

“The wishes coming true-“

“I don’t know?”

She shrugs.

“That’s just what I’ve heard, I’ve never done it, like I said-“

“......Could it be dangerous?”

“Eh? Really?”

“If you can wish for anything...”

Will she see it, too....

“Oh...”

Her lips curve down.

“Didn’t think of it like that-“

.....?

-The energy has changed.

“.....”

Did I...do wrong?

“....There wouldn’t be anyone who would misuse that power...would they?”

I know no one aside from Kiara and March.

“I don’t know...”

“Hm...”

What a dilemma.

“...I suppose we could just keep our eyes open for anything weird come tomorrow”.

“....Hm. Yes”.

-Bells.

Now that I am aware of them, I cannot miss them.

They hang off doors.

Tiny letter-eaters.

Windows.

. . .

Car doors-?

Why would you put a bell on a car door?

Where do you get so many bells from...

And make them all not look the same?

They have none on the house.

I checked.

“-Hello, Ink”.

“....Hello”.

He still regards me with something I do not know.

“Hi dad!”

“Hey kid”.

There seems to be a...connection.

Between them.

It was there last time, too...

What could it be?

“How was it?”

“Same old, same old-“

“Oh yeah?”

They go in.

I follow.

“How was school for you, Ink?”

“-Hm?”

\---Should I say something---

“School....?”

“You were there, weren’t you?”

“.......?”

Yes, I was....

“...........It was....school...............??”

“-That’s a mood-“ Kiara responds in the middle.

I still don’t understand it.

“Cool”.

March fiddles with something on the table.

A plain bell.

“You are making wishes?”

“Heard that old story, did you?”

“Yes...”

It reminds me.

“-Do they ever come true?”

“For me?”

“....Yes”.

“...”

I look at it.

“Well...”

He sets a rag down.

“I _did_ get what I wanted”.

“You did”.

“Once”.

“Really!?”

Kiara leans over his shoulder.

“What did you wish for!?”

“Enough money for when you got that virus, remember?”

“...Oh....”

“Virus?”

I have heard of them.

Some-

“I almost hacked up my intestines”.

“....???”

“It was bad-“

What on earth could cause that?

“...It’s true”.

“So it would appear”.

......

That means it really is....

....

It _could_ be misused.

“Are you going to wish for anything this year?”

“I had no plans-“

“Me neither”.

“.....Then why the bell?”

“Why not?”

“. . . . . . . . . . .”

I.............do not....get it-

They string it up on the door.

It stays there.

It does nothing.

.....

I could use it-

............But what should I say...

Oh.

I know-

I ding the bell, and it sticks.

-Get off.

Get off now-

...

It will not.

I did not foresee this outcome.

Hm..

Hmm.....

Hmmm.......

I pull on the rope.

It snaps.

.......It can be fixed.

“-What happened to our bell?”

“I did not mean to”.

I show him.

“It...became stuck”.

“Oh dear”.

Kiara’s face...I don’t know that one.

“-Wait”.

Her eyes grow larger.

“Did you make a wish!?”

“I did-“

“What did you wish for?”

“...”

I look at the bell.

It is all covered in...ink.

“I wished for no bad wishes to come true this year-“

“You did?”

“I did that”.

I-

Don’t...feel good.....

Now......

Was that not right?

“Was that not right?”

...

-Why did I say that.

“Huh-“

“...I don’t know man, if it did good, who knows”.

“.......”

Now I am....un....sure?

“You did good”.

She pats me on the arm.

“I did?”

“You did”.

“.....”

Hm.

“I did good?”

“Yes”.

“Hmmmm..........”

-!

Her arms...squish.

Around me.

“Hm?”

“Huh?”

“Hmm?”

“.....No? No hug?”

“Hug?”

“....A hug?”

“....Hm?”

What is a ‘hug’?

I keep feeling her arms now.

.....

But they are not there.

Hmm....

Why-is that?

It is odd.

I do not...understand it.

“Kiara?”

“Yeah?”

We are going to the school again...

Nothing is...different?

The mountain _do_ look odd, but....

No more bells.

“Wh-“

Hm.

“Huh?”

.....

Why do I still feel your arms?

.......

That would-

Be a very odd thing to say.

I think...

“......What is today?”

“Wednesday”.

“Hm”.

**Author's Note:**

> They are wholesome.


End file.
